Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-12
HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION
LAW

HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION
Law.
1t will require moral courage to lead
in the matter, but the Legislator who
puts on foot movement to revise the
homestead exemption law of Texas will
do the people of the state service. He
will very likely have to endure abuse and
suffer Misrepresentation; he may be
beaten if he offers for Office again-but
all the same he will inaugurate good
work and some day get all the vindication
he wants. The kind of revision THE GA
zETTE has in mind means that which will
diminish the amount of property that can,
under existing laws, be held and enjoyed
exempt from executions and judgments
of all kinds. The spirit of the law is all
right, but the letter affords scope for an
Interpretation so elastic as to, in many
instances, make downright mockerY of
the principle involved.
THE GAZETTE hopes it will not be mis-
understood. A liberal homestead law is
in every way desirable, and THE GA
ZETTE could not be induced to favor any
change involving anything but a liberal
exemption. Under the existing system,
however, it is possible to give the law a
too liberal Interpretation. Too much
can be claimed and reserved as
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it is by no means an uncom-
mon circumstance to see men who are
insolvent in the eyes of the law enjoying
the unrestricted use Of property that
Yields a revenue beyond the ordinar
needs of economical life. Let any one
who doubts the accuracy of this state
ment look around him carefully and note
the number of cases in his town or
county that come under the classification
above described and he will be astonish-
ed to find how numerous such cases are.
There is not state in the Union where
the homestead exemption law is as lib
eral as in Texas; there is not state in
the Union where man who is inselvent
may hold as much real estate as he can
in Texas and snap his fingers at creditors
and judgments. Many men who get into
financial trouble and go to the wall are
Ito their credit be it ssid) too honest to
avail themselves of the opportunities and,
we may add, the temptations the Texas
law affords them. To meet their obliga-
tions they surrender property the law
would allow them to hold. But a greater
number are not troubled by such scruples
and so they take every advantage the
law offers them, deliberately swindline
men who have helped them and who have
right to expect better treatment.
There can be but one result of such q
system. The effect is to make capital ex,
ceedingly cautious and exacting and
moLey high-priced. Lenders will not
loan save for an amount of collateral al
together out OF proportion to the amount
of actual cash involved, and the rate OF
interest because of the risk is nearly
twice as high as it ought to be in a state
like Texas. Another feature of the home
stead law that is open to criticism is the
inhibition that renders the property
utterly useless IN a business way to the
man who is solvent and proposes to pay
his debts. The law will not permit him
to mortgage the home to any extent, no
matter how great his necessities or how
safe and promising the investment or
venture he would make if he only had the
money. He may sell it, or give it away
for Glove and affection and 8 dollar,
but he cannot mortgage it for any part of
its actual value. 1t is easy to see how
this inhibition may work an actual hard
ship to thousands of men in Texas every
year, who, but for this feature, could
borrow money on their homes to relieve
necessities or prosecute business enter
prises, and yet never be brought
to the necessity of selling the home. 1t
acts as clog and check on the aspira-
tions and opportunities entertained by
and open to thousands Of men who might
otherwise be engaged in various business
enterprises or undertakings of legiti-
mate and useful nature. 1t locks up
right here in Texas, millions of dollars
that otherwise would be constantly in
This inhibition is based on the theory
that prevailed in primitive, patriarchal
eras, that man must be forced, for his
own good, to surrender the prerogative